“Would Have Been A Really Good Movie”: Why Dark Matter Was Made As A TV Show Explained By Creator

Summary Dark Matter was adapted into a TV show for deeper character development beyond the capabilities of a movie.

The series explores multiverse concepts, which can be detailed more thoroughly than a movie adaptation.

While a movie could have worked, the TV adaptation allows for enriching the story's depth and faithfulness to the author's vision.

Dark Matter producer Matt Tolmach has opened up about why the new TV series based on the book of the same name wasn't made into a movie instead. The new Apple TV+ show is based on Blake Crouch's 2016 sci-fi novel, focusing on a man named Jason (Joel Edgerton) who ends up switching places with a version of himself from an alternate reality. The novel is a standalone story, however it was adapted into a TV series instead of a movie covering the story.

Speaking with ComicBook, Tolmach explained why the TV adaptation of Dark Matter was the right way to go about developing the story. The producer admits a movie could have been made out of Crouch's original novel, but says the TV approach allows for deeper development of the show's major characters and concepts. Check out what Tolmach had to say about the adaptation choice below:

I think in that parallel universe where we made [a movie], it would have been a really good movie, but we wouldn't have explored Jason-2 on the level that we did, we wouldn't have explored Amanda on the level that we did. Part of what is, I think, special about the show that we made, is that it's a very human journey -- it's a character piece. You have to be with these characters. Particularly with the overall arc of it, the longing that Jason-1 has to return to his world and his family -- you have to feel that in a very profound way to kind of earn the journey, and to feel the hopelessness that he faces along the way and the joy...so in order to really invest, you need to spend time there, and it was time that we were giving up [to make the movie].

Why Dark Matter Needed To Be A TV Show

Dark Matter reviews have often highlighted the characters and their development in the show, proving Tolmach's point about the book needing a TV series approach to be adapted. Its format and home on Apple TV+ also help it join the likes of Severance, Silo, and other well-received sci-fi shows the streaming platform produces. Surrounded by other sci-fi shows across the platform, the new series can utilize the same storytelling attributes as its predecessors to create a fitting, well-developed story that belongs on TV.

The show also deals with many complex multiverse ideas that wouldn't be as thoroughly explored if the book was adapted into a movie. This includes Jason-2, the alternate universe version of the show's protagonist, building a machine that can travel across a wide variety of alternate dimensions, making the series about more than just two different worlds. It also means Dark Matter can change the book by offering a more thorough exploration of the possible realities Jason-1 travels through on his mission to go home. The concept has more to offer because it has more room to be explored.

While a movie approach still would have worked, since Couch's novel is a standalone story, Dark Matter can better thrive as a TV show, giving its story extra layers of depth even the book wasn't able to explore. Since the author himself wrote the first four episodes and co-wrote episode 7 of the show, it will also maintain faithfulness to his original vision while enhancing it for the small screen. With plenty of ideas for the series to explore, it seems the choice to adapt it this way was the right one.

New episodes of Dark Matter arrive Wednesdays on Apple TV+.

Source: ComicBook